Living in Utah in March still means snowy days. We were getting so tired of the cold so we decided to head to California to enjoy the warmer weather. We spent a week at Chris's parents house and soaked up as much sun as we possibly could.
No trip to Nana's and Grandpa's would be complete without numerous trips to the beach.
Rylee's first instinct when arriving at the beach is to run straight for the water. She is not afraid of the waves one bit! It was a colder day so we hadn't planned on the girls getting wet. We were just going to make sand castles............
and then Madison was wet.............
Rylee's clothes were so wet we stripped her down to her diaper.
Then Ashley's pants were soaked so you can see she's running around on the beach in her undies.
Love this guy.
Our friends Justin and Lindsay Hogge (and kids) from Arizona met up with us at my in-laws house to stay for a few days. Justin and Chris have been friends since Junior High. We have lots of fun memories with the Hogge's.
We had made plans to meet them here to enjoy Disneyland together.
We made our way to Disneyland on Tuesday. This was a first time experience for Madison and Ashley. Grandma Brown kept Rylee for us so we didn't have to cart around a cranky baby in a stroller all day. We headed straight for "It's a Small World" because there was no wait.
Crazy Justin and Chris. Madison wasn't so sure about Disneyland.
I think it was sensory overload for her.
We hardly saw any characters that day. We did find Pluto. I wasn't sure if my girls were going to be scared of the characters. Ashley went right up to Pluto and hugged him and posed for a picture. I had to hold on to Madison since she wasn't so sure about a huge dog hugging her.
Madison was on Daddy's shoulders a lot. Alex and Madison are only a few months apart.
The kids only lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes at Disneyland before they were already complaining about being hungry. I figured we were going to be in for a long day!
While I waited in line to get lunch. Ashley was sitting at the table with Lindsay and her daughter Jo (they are only a few months apart too!) and decided to snap a few silly pictures of Jo.
Ashley then handed the camera to Jo and this is one of the gems that Jo took.
After lunch Madison was getting tired and cranky so we called my mother-in-law Jeanette and she came and picked her up. Here we are riding the train from Toon Town to the front of Disneyland to drop her off.
On the way out we told Madison she could pick a souvenir.
She was so tired, but still managed to walk up and pick out this hat.
We didn't know it at the time, but she was also so tired and out of it because she was having an allergic reaction to the sunblock we put on her.
After Ashley "got rid" of her little sister, she wanted to ride the big rides. We went on the Matterhorn (which she loved), Pirates of the Caribbean, and Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Here she is watching the huge paddleboat go by as we waited for churros.
We can't go to Disneyland and not have a churro.
She wanted to ride on the cars, but when it came time to drive them, she didn't want to steer.
The Carousel.
Ashley wanted to come home with the same hat as Madison.
I had the wonderful privilege of carrying it around all day after she stopped wearing it.
Wearing the hat lasted about an hour total.
Riding on the Paddle boat. This is one ride I had never been on.
It was nice after walking so much to enjoy a short ride to rest. I am turning into an old lady.
Ashley enjoying her first Disneyland corn-dog.
I think she was trying to compete with her daddy and Justin.
The boys ate, and ate, and ate.
After it got dark, we headed over to the theater to see Captain Eo. They brought it back to Disneyland after he died. Chris has always loved Michael Jackson so this was something we had to see before we went home.
I thought Ashley wouldn't enjoy the movie but she loved it.
She danced throughout the whole thing.
Headed over to the tea cups next. I've never done the teacups at night.
It was really pretty.
We did think we'd last this late into the evening, so I had given
Ashley's jacket to Grandma when she picked up Madison.
It got a bit cold so we had to spend $45 on a hoodie. Disneyland stuff is sooooo expensive.
(As I write this post, she is wearing the jacket again today and every time I see it, it reminds me of one of the happiest days I've ever had with her. The money was totally worth it!)
Right before 9 p.m. we decided we'd go on one more ride and then head home. That's when the fireworks started and she wanted to watch the whole thing.
She seemed to get her second wind right about 9 o'clock. We went on another boat ride and then headed over to Pirates of the Caribbean to ride it again. By that late in the evening there was no wait and we got right on.
We took one last picture in front of the castle.
On our way out, we enjoyed a candy store and the penny arcade.
By the time we got to the car it was 10:45 pm and by the time we walked back in the door of Chris's parents house it was 11 pm. She is such a trooper.
As soon as our car drove out of the parking lot this is what she
looked like on the short ride home.
As I mentioned earlier in the post, Madison had an allergic reaction to the sunscreen from the half day in the sun at Disneyland. I took this picture the morning after so I could show the doctor's back home what she looked like after the reaction in case they needed to see.
Her skin was really itchy so I headed down to the Target pharmacy and asked them what I should put on it to help soothe the itch. They said to put Aloe on it so I did.
By that evening, the aloe had made the allergic reaction so much worse that we stopped using it. This is what she looked like the following morning.
We rushed her to Urgent Care where they said to keep her out of the sun (which we were already doing) and to not put anything more on her skin. He gave us some steroids and allergy medicine which helped take the itch and blistering away within a few days.
So instead of enjoying the beach the next few days, Madison and her sisters played in the shade in the backyard. We bought them bubbles and sidewalk chalk to keep them entertained.
After Madison was much better, we spent an evening as a family at the beach.
Our niece Erika had arrived that weekend to spend some time with
Grandma and Grandpa too during her Spring Break.
Grandpa and Daddy making sand sea turtles.
I couldn't stop laughing when I took this picture. Everything about Chris is a duplicate of his father. They act the same and were standing exactly the same so I snapped a shot. I wouldn't be bothered one bit if my man on the right turns into the man on the left in a few years. My father-in -law is one amazing person!
Grandma had bought the girls Minnie Mouse outfits (which Ashley is wearing in the picture). Ashley asked me to make Mickey Mouse ears out of her hair so she would match her dress.
One of our final days in California we headed to Balboa Island. What a beautiful place! The girls like to ride the ferris wheel and carousel as they overlook the ocean.
I think saying that Rylee LOVES carousels is an understatement.
When the carousel stopped and she had to get off this is what happened! The tears flowed and flowed, until Grandma and Grandpa paid for them to ride again!
Chris put on his wet suit and braved the cold water.
Grandpa riding his bike on the beach.
This was such a great vacation (minus the trip to Urgent Care). The girls ask almost weekly, "when are we going to the beach"! Thanks for a great vacation Grandma and Grandpa!
